我在音乐会上突然意识到:这才是有效接班应有的样子。
请允许我解释一下。大约七年前,我第一次去看Dead & Company乐队的演出。这支由前死之华乐队(Grateful Dead)的乐手和包括约翰·梅尔在内的新晋艺人组成的乐队,在离我硅谷居所不远的一个户外场地——海岸线露天剧场(Shoreline Amphitheater)演出。那是七月里某个温暖的夜晚,我和丈夫一起来到现场——一个没有孩子和工作烦恼的美好夜晚。梅尔和鲍勃·威尔(死之华乐队的创始成员之一)一起即兴演唱了《Ripple》和《Sugaree》等歌曲(这些歌曲都是在我出生前发行的),我们听得如痴如醉。
值得一提的是,我并非Dead & Company的死忠粉。但我热爱音乐,甚至在我第一次观看Dead & Co演出之前,我就对这支标志性的原创乐队了如指掌,他们1965年在我居所附近的帕洛阿托出道。直到在海岸线露天剧场演出的那一刻,我才意识到Dead & Company(在其前身乐队成立整整半个世纪后才诞生)能够同时吸引死忠粉和年轻的新听众,是多么令人震撼的事。这种在乐队灵魂人物杰里·加西亚(Jerry Garcia)1995年离世后,依然能够如此和谐地完成接力棒传递的壮举,无疑是许多成功企业在继承方面所难以企及的光辉典范。
我本应知道这一点。作为全球顶尖的领导力咨询和高管招聘公司亿康先达(Egon Zehnder)的合伙人,我曾帮助领导者应对他们面临的最严峻的挑战,其中继任规划是重中之重。尤其是在这个瞬息万变的世界里,预测谁将成为引领组织前行的最具影响力的领导者,无疑是一项艰巨的任务。多年来,我始终致力于从人类学视角审视自己的工作,观察、倾听和学习不同的企业文化。我加深了对人类心理的理解——从动机到偏离轨道的因素再到潜力——努力实现领导者与企业的精准模式匹配。当面对由标志性创始人所塑造的根深蒂固的企业文化时,我意识到这一匹配过程变得愈发错综复杂。这种现象在科技公司与创意驱动型组织(事实上,也包括乐队)中尤为普遍。以苹果(Apple)和戴尔(Dell)为例,这两家公司早期都曾尝试聘请外部首席执行官,但都以失败告终。在其他行业,那些深受创始人文化熏陶的企业,在更换领导人时也面临着同样的挑战。沃尔玛(Walmart)、星巴克(Starbucks)和安德玛(Under Armour)等公司便是例证。
这一过程的艰巨性正是人们不惜重金、著书立说以解决这一问题的原因。然而,成功的案例寥寥无几,切实有效的蓝图更是难以觅得。
这就是七年前我在目睹梅尔和威尔在舞台上战胜困难时,为何会如此欣喜若狂的原因。当我兴奋地与丈夫分享这一领悟时,他笑了(好吧,我承认,在音乐会上沉浸于个人职业上的突破,与现场的“氛围”格格不入),但我无法释怀。我不断回顾带给我的启示,以及Dead & Co的演出。我决心深入挖掘,更好地理解这些艺人是如何将这一过程处理得如此完美的,而相比之下,一些世界上最成功的公司却无法做到。我发现,从这个最不可能成功的继任故事中,我们确实能够汲取到诸多经验。
这一切都始于创造力和勇气。我这样表述是什么意思呢?梅尔的早期作品与其说是反主流文化嬉皮士风格,不如说是排行榜上深受大众喜爱的热门曲目,因此,他显然不是接替加西亚的不二人选。2015年,梅尔作为嘉宾主持《深夜秀》(Late Late Show)时,邀请吉他手威尔和他一起在录音室演出,这是他与原乐队的首次合作。尽管二人年龄相差30岁,但一拍即合。(巧合的是,虽然两人相差三十年,但生日却是同一天:10月16日。)当他们携手演奏死之华乐队最著名的歌曲之一《Althea》时,两人都清楚地意识到,神奇的事情发生了。
梅尔数年前才发现了死之华乐队的音乐,他开始仔细研究乐队的歌曲集。对威尔来说,他知道自己必须和梅尔进行更多合作。这位年长的吉他手已经帮助组建了几支衍生乐队,因此他能够轻松地与新晋艺人建立融洽的关系。但是,他也知道一些死之华乐队死忠粉可能会对这一全新阵容持保留态度。
在最近一次 Dead & Co 在拉斯维加斯 Sphere 球形场馆的演出中——乐队将于 2025 年重返此地进行驻场表演——我有幸见到了乐队的联合经纪人伯尼·卡希尔(Bernie Cahill),他与阿佐夫(Azoff)/莫尔(Moir)共同管理乐队。这位前知识产权律师还负责管理死之华乐队的遗产,他表示威尔很快就发现了这种融合的潜力。尽管在外界看来,这种混搭乍看之下似乎并不明显,但这位资深音乐人深知自己找到了正确方向。
卡希尔后来告诉我:“从表明上看,这样的组合似乎有些不协调,但在舞台上,你能看到火花四溅。”
事实上,让梅尔加入并组建一支新乐队来传承死之华乐队歌曲集的决定,确实遭到了一些人的反对。(全员阵容还包括前死之华乐队成员米奇·哈特(Mickey Hart)和比尔·克鲁兹曼(Bill Kreutzmann),以及新晋艺人奥迪尔·伯布里奇(Oteil Burbridge)和杰夫·奇门特(Jeff Chimenti),不过克鲁兹曼后来被杰伊·莱恩(Jay Lane)取代)。原因是这是一个极具创意和勇气的选择,而不是一个容易做出的选择。
更显而易见的选择是,从相似的流派和时代引入另一位主唱,就像可口可乐公司(Coca Cola)的新任领导者理应来自百事可乐公司(Pepsi)一样。但是,当今的人才解决方案要求企业跳出传统的舒适圈,尽管这样做会带来更大的风险。原因在于,当前企业所处的环境需要持续变化,这反过来又要求领导者灵活多变,并拥有丰富的经验。至于经验的多样性,它通常不会来自那些与你背景相同的人。
威尔在梅尔身上看到了其他人可能未曾留意到的特质:一个音乐天才,正因为他来自不同的音乐世界,所以他能顺利融入原乐队的新一轮迭代中。但是,要使这种跨界融合真正得以实现,还需要付出更多的努力与心血。
一位加入新企业的领导者必须深谙企业的过往,并对此抱有敬意,而梅尔无疑具备这一点。这就是双向奔赴的地方,而且深度融合至关重要。从一开始,梅尔就沉浸在对死之华乐队曲目的深入研究中。他力求从技术和哲学两个层面来理解这些音乐作品,深入研究是什么让这些音乐历经数十年仍魅力不减、经久不衰,而且如此适合现场即兴表演,而这正是死之华乐队(无论新老)所擅长的。与此同时,他并没有试图成为杰里·加西亚——就像一个从外部来的首席执行官不应试图模仿即将离任的创始首席执行官一样。事实上,当梅尔初次与威尔和乐队同台演出时,他就小心翼翼地避免模仿加西亚,刻意回避这位已故音乐家特定的吉他“片段”,用自己的方式来演绎原创音乐。就像我在舞台上看到的那样,他是在为音乐服务,而非为了彰显个人尊严。
诚然,说起来容易做起来难。很多新任首席执行官往往需要耗费花数月时间,才能完全融入新公司。但重要的是他们在融入过程中所采取的行动。他们能否在坚守企业核心价值的同时,形成自己的领导风格,并在带领大家共同前进的同时,推动变革?这正是梅尔所能做到的。他不仅完全融入乐队之中,还展现了自己的独特魅力,并提升了乐队的整体水平。
Dead & Co的联合经纪人卡希尔告诉我:“约翰所流露出的崇敬与尊重之情,是那样地显而易见。一旦人们感受到了这一点,我相信他们就会敞开心扉享受这支(新)乐队的演出,现在他们已然接受新乐队了。”
在我最后一场 Dead & Co 的演出中——相信我,未来还会有更多演出——显而易见的是,即使是那些死忠粉也对新乐队表示了支持。不仅如此,那些近些年才加入粉丝行列、更为年轻的乐迷们也同样如此。事实上,Dead & Co 演出的跨代吸引力是显而易见的。这样的桥梁并非轻易就能建立,即使是最成功的品牌也难以做到。不过,这也是建立可持续商业模式的关键所在,威尔对此尤其有发言权——即使他并未从企业的角度来思考。这位长期从事音乐创作的音乐家有一个长达300 年的计划,希望死之华乐队的音乐能够继续被诠释和重新演绎,为一代又一代的乐迷所喜爱。
卡希尔告诉我:“那是他的梦想。为了实现这个梦想,他必须要有下一代艺人的加入,让他们能够接过接力棒。”
让音乐延续下去比听起来更具挑战性。这不仅需要理解和欣赏死之华乐队的实际曲目,还需要对他们最初的精神有所了解。死之华乐队的核心价值观是注重音乐的现场性和即兴性,因此音乐也是千变万化的。这正是乐迷们所期待的。没有两场音乐会是相同的,每首歌曲的长度也会有所不同,因为乐队是实时即兴演奏,而不是按照他们前一天演奏的特定热门歌曲进行演奏。这也给所有公司上了一课:虽然许多公司都在努力变得更加灵活,不再那么僵化,但这种心态已经融入了死之华乐队的“商业模式”之中。灵活性不仅是转型的关键,也是新领导人成功融入的关键。
到2025年,死之华乐队将迎来60周年纪念,与此同时,Dead & Co也将迎来10周年纪念,显而易见,这两支乐队在美国音乐史上均占据着独一无二的地位,它们既是新兴的传奇,也是古老的经典。但也许,只是也许,死之华乐队留下的不仅仅是一本歌曲集。这是企业的指南——至少是那些足够灵活,能在最不可能的地方寻找灵感的企业的指南。(财富中文网)
林赛·特劳特(Lindsay Trout)是领导力咨询和高管招聘公司亿康先达(Egon Zehnder)的合伙人。
Fortune.com上发表的评论文章中表达的观点,仅代表作者本人的观点,不代表《财富》杂志的观点和立场。
译者:中慧言-王芳
我在音乐会上突然意识到:这才是有效接班应有的样子。
请允许我解释一下。大约七年前,我第一次去看Dead & Company乐队的演出。这支由前死之华乐队(Grateful Dead)的乐手和包括约翰·梅尔在内的新晋艺人组成的乐队,在离我硅谷居所不远的一个户外场地——海岸线露天剧场(Shoreline Amphitheater)演出。那是七月里某个温暖的夜晚,我和丈夫一起来到现场——一个没有孩子和工作烦恼的美好夜晚。梅尔和鲍勃·威尔(死之华乐队的创始成员之一)一起即兴演唱了《Ripple》和《Sugaree》等歌曲(这些歌曲都是在我出生前发行的),我们听得如痴如醉。
值得一提的是,我并非Dead & Company的死忠粉。但我热爱音乐,甚至在我第一次观看Dead & Co演出之前,我就对这支标志性的原创乐队了如指掌,他们1965年在我居所附近的帕洛阿托出道。直到在海岸线露天剧场演出的那一刻,我才意识到Dead & Company(在其前身乐队成立整整半个世纪后才诞生)能够同时吸引死忠粉和年轻的新听众,是多么令人震撼的事。这种在乐队灵魂人物杰里·加西亚(Jerry Garcia)1995年离世后,依然能够如此和谐地完成接力棒传递的壮举,无疑是许多成功企业在继承方面所难以企及的光辉典范。
我本应知道这一点。作为全球顶尖的领导力咨询和高管招聘公司亿康先达(Egon Zehnder)的合伙人,我曾帮助领导者应对他们面临的最严峻的挑战,其中继任规划是重中之重。尤其是在这个瞬息万变的世界里,预测谁将成为引领组织前行的最具影响力的领导者,无疑是一项艰巨的任务。多年来,我始终致力于从人类学视角审视自己的工作,观察、倾听和学习不同的企业文化。我加深了对人类心理的理解——从动机到偏离轨道的因素再到潜力——努力实现领导者与企业的精准模式匹配。当面对由标志性创始人所塑造的根深蒂固的企业文化时,我意识到这一匹配过程变得愈发错综复杂。这种现象在科技公司与创意驱动型组织(事实上,也包括乐队)中尤为普遍。以苹果(Apple)和戴尔(Dell)为例,这两家公司早期都曾尝试聘请外部首席执行官,但都以失败告终。在其他行业,那些深受创始人文化熏陶的企业,在更换领导人时也面临着同样的挑战。沃尔玛(Walmart)、星巴克(Starbucks)和安德玛(Under Armour)等公司便是例证。
这一过程的艰巨性正是人们不惜重金、著书立说以解决这一问题的原因。然而,成功的案例寥寥无几,切实有效的蓝图更是难以觅得。
这就是七年前我在目睹梅尔和威尔在舞台上战胜困难时,为何会如此欣喜若狂的原因。当我兴奋地与丈夫分享这一领悟时,他笑了(好吧,我承认,在音乐会上沉浸于个人职业上的突破,与现场的“氛围”格格不入),但我无法释怀。我不断回顾带给我的启示,以及Dead & Co的演出。我决心深入挖掘,更好地理解这些艺人是如何将这一过程处理得如此完美的,而相比之下,一些世界上最成功的公司却无法做到。我发现,从这个最不可能成功的继任故事中,我们确实能够汲取到诸多经验。
这一切都始于创造力和勇气。我这样表述是什么意思呢?梅尔的早期作品与其说是反主流文化嬉皮士风格,不如说是排行榜上深受大众喜爱的热门曲目,因此,他显然不是接替加西亚的不二人选。2015年,梅尔作为嘉宾主持《深夜秀》(Late Late Show)时,邀请吉他手威尔和他一起在录音室演出,这是他与原乐队的首次合作。尽管二人年龄相差30岁,但一拍即合。(巧合的是,虽然两人相差三十年,但生日却是同一天:10月16日。)当他们携手演奏死之华乐队最著名的歌曲之一《Althea》时,两人都清楚地意识到,神奇的事情发生了。
梅尔数年前才发现了死之华乐队的音乐,他开始仔细研究乐队的歌曲集。对威尔来说,他知道自己必须和梅尔进行更多合作。这位年长的吉他手已经帮助组建了几支衍生乐队,因此他能够轻松地与新晋艺人建立融洽的关系。但是,他也知道一些死之华乐队死忠粉可能会对这一全新阵容持保留态度。
在最近一次 Dead & Co 在拉斯维加斯 Sphere 球形场馆的演出中——乐队将于 2025 年重返此地进行驻场表演——我有幸见到了乐队的联合经纪人伯尼·卡希尔(Bernie Cahill),他与阿佐夫(Azoff)/莫尔(Moir)共同管理乐队。这位前知识产权律师还负责管理死之华乐队的遗产,他表示威尔很快就发现了这种融合的潜力。尽管在外界看来,这种混搭乍看之下似乎并不明显,但这位资深音乐人深知自己找到了正确方向。
卡希尔后来告诉我:“从表明上看,这样的组合似乎有些不协调,但在舞台上,你能看到火花四溅。”
事实上,让梅尔加入并组建一支新乐队来传承死之华乐队歌曲集的决定,确实遭到了一些人的反对。(全员阵容还包括前死之华乐队成员米奇·哈特(Mickey Hart)和比尔·克鲁兹曼(Bill Kreutzmann),以及新晋艺人奥迪尔·伯布里奇(Oteil Burbridge)和杰夫·奇门特(Jeff Chimenti),不过克鲁兹曼后来被杰伊·莱恩(Jay Lane)取代)。原因是这是一个极具创意和勇气的选择,而不是一个容易做出的选择。
更显而易见的选择是,从相似的流派和时代引入另一位主唱,就像可口可乐公司(Coca Cola)的新任领导者理应来自百事可乐公司(Pepsi)一样。但是,当今的人才解决方案要求企业跳出传统的舒适圈,尽管这样做会带来更大的风险。原因在于,当前企业所处的环境需要持续变化,这反过来又要求领导者灵活多变,并拥有丰富的经验。至于经验的多样性,它通常不会来自那些与你背景相同的人。
威尔在梅尔身上看到了其他人可能未曾留意到的特质:一个音乐天才,正因为他来自不同的音乐世界,所以他能顺利融入原乐队的新一轮迭代中。但是,要使这种跨界融合真正得以实现,还需要付出更多的努力与心血。
一位加入新企业的领导者必须深谙企业的过往,并对此抱有敬意,而梅尔无疑具备这一点。这就是双向奔赴的地方,而且深度融合至关重要。从一开始,梅尔就沉浸在对死之华乐队曲目的深入研究中。他力求从技术和哲学两个层面来理解这些音乐作品,深入研究是什么让这些音乐历经数十年仍魅力不减、经久不衰,而且如此适合现场即兴表演,而这正是死之华乐队(无论新老)所擅长的。与此同时,他并没有试图成为杰里·加西亚——就像一个从外部来的首席执行官不应试图模仿即将离任的创始首席执行官一样。事实上,当梅尔初次与威尔和乐队同台演出时,他就小心翼翼地避免模仿加西亚,刻意回避这位已故音乐家特定的吉他“片段”,用自己的方式来演绎原创音乐。就像我在舞台上看到的那样,他是在为音乐服务,而非为了彰显个人尊严。
诚然,说起来容易做起来难。很多新任首席执行官往往需要耗费花数月时间,才能完全融入新公司。但重要的是他们在融入过程中所采取的行动。他们能否在坚守企业核心价值的同时,形成自己的领导风格,并在带领大家共同前进的同时,推动变革?这正是梅尔所能做到的。他不仅完全融入乐队之中,还展现了自己的独特魅力,并提升了乐队的整体水平。
Dead & Co的联合经纪人卡希尔告诉我:“约翰所流露出的崇敬与尊重之情,是那样地显而易见。一旦人们感受到了这一点,我相信他们就会敞开心扉享受这支(新)乐队的演出,现在他们已然接受新乐队了。”
在我最后一场 Dead & Co 的演出中——相信我,未来还会有更多演出——显而易见的是,即使是那些死忠粉也对新乐队表示了支持。不仅如此,那些近些年才加入粉丝行列、更为年轻的乐迷们也同样如此。事实上,Dead & Co 演出的跨代吸引力是显而易见的。这样的桥梁并非轻易就能建立,即使是最成功的品牌也难以做到。不过,这也是建立可持续商业模式的关键所在,威尔对此尤其有发言权——即使他并未从企业的角度来思考。这位长期从事音乐创作的音乐家有一个长达300 年的计划,希望死之华乐队的音乐能够继续被诠释和重新演绎,为一代又一代的乐迷所喜爱。
卡希尔告诉我:“那是他的梦想。为了实现这个梦想,他必须要有下一代艺人的加入,让他们能够接过接力棒。”
让音乐延续下去比听起来更具挑战性。这不仅需要理解和欣赏死之华乐队的实际曲目,还需要对他们最初的精神有所了解。死之华乐队的核心价值观是注重音乐的现场性和即兴性,因此音乐也是千变万化的。这正是乐迷们所期待的。没有两场音乐会是相同的,每首歌曲的长度也会有所不同,因为乐队是实时即兴演奏,而不是按照他们前一天演奏的特定热门歌曲进行演奏。这也给所有公司上了一课:虽然许多公司都在努力变得更加灵活,不再那么僵化,但这种心态已经融入了死之华乐队的“商业模式”之中。灵活性不仅是转型的关键,也是新领导人成功融入的关键。
到2025年,死之华乐队将迎来60周年纪念,与此同时,Dead & Co也将迎来10周年纪念,显而易见,这两支乐队在美国音乐史上均占据着独一无二的地位,它们既是新兴的传奇,也是古老的经典。但也许,只是也许,死之华乐队留下的不仅仅是一本歌曲集。这是企业的指南——至少是那些足够灵活,能在最不可能的地方寻找灵感的企业的指南。(财富中文网)
林赛·特劳特(Lindsay Trout)是领导力咨询和高管招聘公司亿康先达(Egon Zehnder)的合伙人。
Fortune.com上发表的评论文章中表达的观点,仅代表作者本人的观点,不代表《财富》杂志的观点和立场。
译者:中慧言-王芳
I was at a concert when it hit me: This is what effective succession looks like.
Allow me to explain. About seven years ago, I went to see Dead & Company perform for the first time. The group, made up of both former Grateful Dead musicians plus new artists—including John Mayer—was playing at Shoreline Amphitheater, an outdoor venue not far from where I live in Silicon Valley. It was a warm July evening, and I was there with my husband—a great night out without the kids and the worries of work. We were mesmerized as Mayer and Bob Weir, one of the original Grateful Dead members, jammed together on songs like Ripple and Sugaree, which were both released before I was born.
I’m no Deadhead, by the way. But I love music, and even before going to my first Dead & Co show, I knew all about the iconic original band, who had gotten their start in 1965 in Palo Alto, right in my backyard. Until that moment at Shoreline, though, I hadn’t appreciated just how profound it was that Dead & Co, which was formed a full 50 years after the birth of its predecessor, had managed to appeal to both veteran Deadheads and a new, younger audience. This harmonious passing of the baton, done posthumously (Jerry Garcia died in 1995), was a shining example of a process many successful corporations can’t seem to get right: succession.
I should know. As a partner at Egon Zehnder, one of the world’s top leadership advisory and executive recruiting firms, I have helped leaders navigate through their hardest challenges, succession being top of the list. It is difficult to discern who will be the most impactful leader to lead an organization into the future, especially in a world with ever-changing dynamics. Over the years, I’ve tried to bring an anthropological lens to my work, observing, listening, and learning about different corporate cultures. I’ve deepened my understanding of human psychology—from motivations to derailers to potential—in an effort to better pattern match leaders to organizations. And I’ve realized that this equation is even more complex when faced with a deeply embedded culture set by an iconic founder, as is the case with many tech companies and creatively-driven organizations (including, as it turns out, bands). Take, for example, Apple and Dell, both of which dabbled—and failed—with outside CEOs in their earlier days. Companies with deeply rooted founder cultures across other sectors have struggled to replace their leaders, too. Think Walmart, Starbucks, and Under Armour.
The difficulty of this process is why lots of ink has been spilled—and lots of dollars have been spent—on getting it right. Still, few examples of what success looks like stand out. Effective blueprints are hard to come by.
This is why I was so gleeful that day, seven years ago, watching as Mayer and Weir defied the odds on stage. While my husband laughed when I excitedly told him about my epiphany (okay, I’ll admit, leaning into one’s professional breakthrough at a concert is not “the vibe”), I couldn’t let it go. I kept going back to my revelation—and to Dead & Co shows. I was determined to dig deeper, to better understand how these artists were able to get this process down so well, when some of the world’s most successful companies couldn’t seem to. And I discovered that, indeed, there’s a lot to be learned from this unlikeliest of succession stories.
It all starts with creativity and courage. What do I mean by that? Mayer, whose earlier work cast him more as chart-topping heartthrob than counterculture hippie, was not the obvious choice to fill Garcia’s shoes. Mayer first crossed paths with the original band when he was guest hosting the Late Late Show in 2015 and invited fellow guitarist Weir to join him in a studio performance. The two hit it off right away, despite a 30-year age gap. (Coincidentally, though three decades apart, the duo share a birthday: October 16.) As they jammed out to Althea, one of the Grateful Dead’s most recognizable songs, it was clear to both that something magical had taken place.
Mayer, who had discovered the Grateful Dead’s music just a few years earlier, started poring over the band’s songbook. Weir, for his part, knew that he had to do more with Mayer. The elder guitarist had already helped form several spin-off bands, so he was comfortable integrating new artists. But, he also knew that some of the Dead’s die-hard fans might not take to this new lineup.
At a recent Dead & Co show at the Las Vegas Sphere—which the band is returning to for another residency in 2025—I had the opportunity to meet Bernie Cahill, their comanager alongside Azoff/Moir. The former IP lawyer, who also oversees the Grateful Dead’s legacy, says Weir saw past the superficial differences right away. Despite how unobvious the mashup might have seemed to outsiders at first glance, the longtime musician knew he was on to something.
“On paper it may have seemed incongruous in some way, but on stage, you could see the sparks,” Cahill later told me.
Indeed, the decision to bring Mayer on board, and form a new band that would take on the Grateful Dead’s songbook, did have its naysayers. (The full lineup also included former Grateful Dead members Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, plus new artists Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti—though Kreutzmann would later be replaced by Jay Lane.) But that’s because it was a creative and courageous choice, not an easy one.
The more obvious pick would have been to bring in another frontman from a similar genre and era—just like the obvious replacement for a leader at Coca Cola is to bring in an executive from Pepsi. But today’s talent solutions require organizations to push beyond their traditional comfort zones, despite the fact that this carries more perceived risk. That’s because current corporate environments require constant change, which in turn requires leaders who are agile and versatile—and have diverse experience under their belt. That diversity of experience? It doesn’t usually come from those who are already in your orbit.
Weir saw something in Mayer that others might have missed: a musical genius who could successfully integrate into a new iteration of the original band precisely because he didn’t come from the same world. But there was something more that needed to happen in order to make that integration work.
A leader who comes into a new organization must have both knowledge and appreciation for what came before, and Mayer had that in spades. This is where the process became bidirectional, and it’s critical that this happens on a deep, deep level. From the get-go, Mayer indulged himself in intense study of the Grateful Dead’s songbook. He wanted to understand the music on both a technical and philosophical level, to delve into what has made it so appealing and enduring over the decades—and so ripe for live improvisation, something the Dead (both old and new) is known for. At the same time, he didn’t try to be Jerry Garcia—just as a CEO coming from the outside shouldn’t try to copy the outgoing founding CEO. In fact, when Mayer first started playing with Weir and the band, he was careful not to mimic Garcia, avoiding the late musician’s specific guitar “licks” and finding his own ways of expressing the original music. As I’ve seen on stage, it’s like he’s in the service of the music, not in service of his ego.
This is easier said than done, of course. Plenty of new CEOs take a monthslong period to just immerse themselves in their new company. But it’s what they do with that immersion process that matters. Can they hold on to the foundational principles of the organization while crafting their own style of leading, making shifts while bringing everyone along? That’s what Mayer has been able to do. He immerses himself into the band but also brings his own distinction, elevating the collective.
“John’s reverence and the respect from John is so evident,” Cahill, Dead & Co’s comanager, told me. “Once people felt that, I think they opened themselves up to enjoying the [new] band, and now they’re all on the bus.”
At my last Dead & Co show—trust me, there will be many more in the future—it was clear that even the most loyal of Deadheads were all in on the new band. Not only that, but so were the younger, more recent fans. In fact, the intergenerational appeal of a Dead & Co show is palpable. Such a bridge is not easy to achieve, even for the most successful of brands. But it’s also key to building a sustainable business model, something Weir in particular has a lot to say about—even if he doesn’t think of it in those kinds of corporate-speak terms. The longtime musician has a 300-year plan for the Grateful Dead’s music to continue to be interpreted and reinterpreted, enjoyed by generations of fans to come.
“That’s his dream,” Cahill told me. “And in order for that to happen, he has to have the next generation of artists that are along for the ride and can pick up the baton.”
Keeping the music going is more challenging than it sounds. It requires not just an understanding and appreciation of the actual songbook of the Grateful Dead, but also of their original ethos. At the core of the Dead’s values is a focus on music that is both live and improvisational, and therefore ever-changing. This is what fans have grown to expect. No two concerts are ever the same, and the length of individual songs can vary, given the fact that musicians are jamming in real-time, not adhering to how they played a particular hit just the day before. Here too there is a lesson for all kinds of corporations: While many companies strive to become more agile and less rigid, this mentality is baked into the Dead’s “business model.” Flexibility is key, not just for transformation but also for the successful integration of new leaders.
As the Grateful Dead’s 60-year anniversary comes up in 2025—coinciding with Dead & Co hitting its 10-year mark—it’s clear that both bands play a unique role in our country’s musical history. They are legends, both old and new. But maybe, just maybe, the Dead’s legacy can be even more than a songbook. It’s a playbook for corporations—at least the ones flexible enough to look for inspiration in the unlikeliest of places.
Lindsay Trout is a partner at Egon Zehnder, a leadership advisory and executive recruiting firm.
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